


Rise Again

by WomanInWhite



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Broken Seals, Dean in Hell, F/M, Rise of the Witnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-29
Updated: 2013-10-03
Packaged: 2017-12-25 00:41:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/946636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WomanInWhite/pseuds/WomanInWhite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Months after Dean has died and gone to hell, Sam handles a case where hunters are being killed by spirit of those they failed to save. With some help, he learns that it is a sign of the apocalypse, the rising of the witnesses. Knowing that any number or spirits might appear for him, Sam is most afraid of just one. Upon seeing the spirit, Sam decides to cross every line he's ever drawn in the hopes of making things right again.</p><p>Excerpt:<br/>The waiting was the worst. He didn’t know which spirit would come next. Henrikson had come first. Then minutes later, Meg showed up too. It wasn’t long after that Ronald came into the picture. With every minute that had passed, Sam was worried a new spirit from his past would arrive. There were plenty of other people who he failed to save, and maybe even more he was unaware of. Nancy, Madison, Jake. Maybe even Jessica. But what he was most terrified of was the most obvious, most painful one. He dug into his pocket for more salt rounds and he was reloading his gun when a voice caused his stomach to twist.<br/>“Hey, Sammy.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally a one-shot I wrote that eventually led to me wanting to explore this particular story line. You might have read the original, but a few details have been changed. It's not really necessary to re-read unless you're a stickler for details. So feel free to skip ahead to the new bits.
> 
> Also, in canon, we can assume Sam starting drinking demon blood between season 3 and 4, but for the sake of this story, he holds out a little longer.
> 
> One more thing. This is currently a work in progress. Details in earlier chapters may be altered as the story progresses. Once I'm happy with my final draft, this notice will be removed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story will probably have four or five chapters. Just a heads-up. Enjoy the story.

Sam whipped his head around, watching for any sign of the next hostile apparition while Ruby scrambled to complete the spell that would stop them. Guilt plagued Sam as his greatest hits of failure seemed to come back one by one in the form of ghosts of people he couldn’t save. Meg Masters, Agent Henrikson, Ronald Reznik. All of them detailing how brutally they died and how Sam had, in one way or another, left them to die.

He’d noticed the pattern a few days before. He’d find people brutally slain in their homes and then find their stash of weapons and salt. These ghosts were after hunters. Sam made his first call to Bobby in months to make sure he was still alive and to warn him to keep his guard up. When Bobby cracked the code and learned what they were up against, Sam was just about ready to head over to Sioux Falls to meet him. But that’s when the ghosts started coming after him.

Bobby had only known that this was the rising of the witnesses, and that it was a sign of the apocalypse. Ruby filled in the gaps of Bobby’s knowledge, explaining that it was one of hundreds of seals, and if 66 of them were broken, then Lucifer’s cage would be broken and Satan would be free to roam the earth. Since the witnesses had already risen, the seal was already broken, but it was made apparent when the ghosts began attacking that it was in their best interests to stop them before pursuing leads on other seals.

Sam had gotten the spell from Bobby and Ruby scraped up the supplies they needed while Sam warded off the spirits. It had taken Sam a few close calls to shake off the shock of the situation and simply shoot on sight. He knew that he’d left a lot of destruction in his wake, but having the dead come back to remind him and even alert him to tragedies he never knew he caused had opened his eyes and made him sick to his stomach. Meg, the poor girl possessed by that demon. Nancy, the secretary skinned alive by Lillith when Sam left, thinking she would be safe.

Henrikson appeared again and said, “She spent her last breath screaming before Lillith tore her throat out.” Sam ignored the chill that ran down his spine and shot Henrikson with a salt round.

Sam asked, “Could you hurry it up?”

Ruby snapped, “I’m working on it. It’s kind of complex. Stop being a baby and shoot.”

Sam shook his head and waited again. The waiting was the worst. He didn’t know which spirit would come next. Henrikson had come first. Then minutes later, Meg showed up too. It wasn’t long after that Ronald came into the picture. With every minute that had passed, Sam was worried a new spirit from his past would arrive. There were plenty of other people who he failed to save, and maybe even more he was unaware of. Nancy, Madison, Jake. Maybe even Jessica. But what he was most terrified of was the most obvious, most painful one.

Sam said, “Just, please. Make it quick.”

Ruby, detecting the note of desperation in his voice, chose not to comment.

Sam tried hard to ignore the sharp words coming from Ronald before shooting him, watching him disappear in a spray of silver mist. He dug into his pocket for more salt rounds and he was reloading his gun when a voice caused his stomach to twist.

“Hey, Sammy.”

Sam nearly dropped his gun when he looked up. There he was. “D-dean.”

Dean gave Sam a reserved smile, “In the flesh. Well, not exactly. Not since I became… what was it Bobby said? Oh yeah. Hell’s bitch.” His gaze was suddenly piercing into Sam, “Y’know, I wouldn’t be down there if it wasn’t for you.”

Sam instantly forgot the last few days of research and his better judgment as he pleaded, “Dean, I’m… I’m so sorry.”

Ruby warned, “Sam. Don’t let it get to you.”

Just as Sam’s mind began to regain some form of clarity, Dean’s spirit barked out, “I sold my soul for you and you’re still working with this demon spawn? You think I don’t know what you’ve been up to?”

Sam recoiled under Dean’s accusations and looked back at Ruby who said, “He’s just getting in your head. That’s not really Dean. Now get back in the game. Shoot him.”

But Dean shouted, “Talk about sleeping with the enemy! Wow, Sammy, you’re really off the reservation now. You seriously think this is okay? You think I sacrificed myself for THIS!” The windows of the abandoned house shattered and a gust of wind billowed in through the moth-eaten curtains, scattering the line of salt between Dean and Sam and Ruby. Dean stepped closer, fury seeming to radiate off of him, “Don’t forget that I’m in hell because of you. Do you even know what they’re doing to me down there? The pain. The heat. The stink. Everything about hell is unbearable. But I guess that’s the point.”

Dean gently pushed Sam’s gun arm away and fixed the collar on Sam’s shirt, his narrowed eyes staring deep into Sam’s, “You couldn’t even _fathom_ the kind of torture I’ve been through.”

Sam could only watch his brother inch closer, paralyzed with guilt and fear, at a loss for words at all of the things he wants to say, unsure how he could possibly ask for forgiveness, or even if he deserved it. Dean’s hand found its way to Sam’s cheek, his thumb lightly brushing away the moisture from his eyes. Sam wanted to reach back, to hug Dean and swear that he would make things better, that he wouldn’t fail again, and hoping that maybe this time it wouldn’t be an empty promise.

Dean muttered, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But maybe…” A small, sinister smile tugged at the corner of Dean’s mouth, “I could show you.”

Before he could react, Sam was on the ground, Dean’s hand clamped tightly around his neck. Sam clawed at Dean’s marked arm, but this corporeal version of his spirit was stronger than him. Dean, his face made ugly by what Sam could only identify as hate, hissed, “You know, suffocation was just one of many ways-“

“Sam! Shoot him!” Ruby screamed.

Her shrill cry snapped Sam out of his terrified stupor, the command taking over his mind as his hand swept the floor, found his gun, and shot a round into Dean’s chest, forcing the apparition to dissipate with a roar.

Sam panted from his spot on the floor, dropping his gun, his limbs thudding limply to the ground. Ruby ordered, “Sam, get up. You’ll have plenty of time for sentiment when this is over.”

Sam hadn’t realized that a few tears escaped him and trickled behind his ears. He shakily got to his feet, clutching tightly to his gun, careful not to let his twitchy fingers pull the trigger unexpectedly. He shot the newly materialized Ronald, wiped his eyes on his sleeve, and then shot Meg. In the lull, he shakily reloaded his gun again. He couldn’t stop trembling from seeing Dean, his throat still sore from those ghostly fingers wrapped tight around it in anger.

He’d tried so hard to save Dean, and not a day had gone by that he didn’t think how he could have done it, or how he could pull him out of Hell. It never made a difference. No demon would deal. No spell would work. He’d even prayed, but there was no evidence of an answer to his pleas.

Half the time he wanted to give up, but the other half forced him to keep holding out, to make Dean’s sacrifice mean something. Between his hungry search for anything that would help Dean, Sam continued hunting, and with Ruby’s help, he was able to track demons much more effectively. Not only that, but she was helping him to find Lillith. She comforted him when he lost Dean, who used to be the one person he could count on no matter what. Sam only became intimate with Ruby because it was what she wanted and he so desperately needed somebody to support him and carry the weight of the world with him, despite all of his flaws. He’d never lived in a world without that and found he could not function otherwise.

Dean’s sudden wrathful appearance awakened a new wave a doubt and guilt in him. Had Dean never died, he knows he never would’ve done what he was doing. Even if he did, he wouldn’t have gotten away with it with Dean around. Dean generally thought in black and white when it came to humans and monsters. Even the apocalypse was no excuse.

The apparition was back, and it wasn’t fooling around this time. Dean glared at Sam from across the room, “You’ve really gone off the deep end, Sam.” The ghost was faster this time, appearing in front of Sam in an instant, twisting Sam’s arm so he fell to his knees in pain, the gun clattered on the ground. Dean snarled, “I died for you, I’m still burning in Hell for you, and this is what you do with your life? Bangin’ demons? Thinking of using your psychic powers after I told you not to over and over again?”

Dean delivered a swift punch to Sam’s jaw, knocking him to the ground. Sam groaned, leaning to one side as he looked up at Dean, “I’m sorry!”

This time, Dean kicked Sam in the stomach, shouting, “Not good enough!”

Sam dry heaved as he curled up on the floor. He reached for his gun again, but Dean stepped on his wrist, just short of breaking his bones. Sam winced, “Please, Dean.”

Dean raised his fist again and Sam squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation of the blow, but instead, the weight lifted off of his arm. He looked up to see Ruby holding up a sack of salt. She held her hand out to him, helping him up, “We can’t afford all of these interruptions, Sam. Just shoot until the spell’s done.” Sam nodded, but Ruby said sharply, “I’m not kidding, Sam. Don’t hesitate. Shoot him as soon as you see him.”

Sam nodded again, but he didn’t feel confident at all. His gun back in his hand, he wasn’t sure if he would hesitate to pull the trigger, giving Dean the time to hurt him again. After all, it wasn’t easy shooting his brother (ethereal or not), when he was responsible for his death. He didn’t deserve what Dean had done for him, especially with what he’d been doing, so it seemed liked being attacked in this way was only an appropriate punishment.

More spirits arose, and Sam shot them all, even Dean once or twice, but not without a wave of guilt that settled in his stomach. Sam reminded himself that this was a case. It was best not to make it personal, despite this being anything but. Sure, the ghosts were tailored to target his psyche, but he had to do this professionally. It was either that or die.

So he blew round after round into each ghost, taking note of how they were reappearing more quickly and stronger than before. He’d just shot into Gordon Walker and reached into his pockets for more rounds when Dean suddenly appeared by his side and smashed his elbow into Sam’s temple.

Sam stumbled, catching himself on the table Ruby was working on, nearly toppling all of the spell work over. Ruby lunged for the sack of salt, but Dean grabbed it and chucked it across the room. Ruby cursed under her breath, focusing on the last leg of the spell.

Sam blocked Dean’s next swing and ran into the next room in an effort to keep him from ruining the spell again. Dean treaded slowly and muttered, “You don’t know how this all started, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Hey, I’m the one telling the story here. You know, at the end of every day in Hell, they gave me an option.”

Sam blurted, “What?”

“They’d rip me apart in every way you could imagine and a thousand ways more. Then they’d ask me, while I was still broken and bloody and begging for them to stop… they’d ask me if I wanted to stay on the rack, or put souls on instead.”

Sam stared at Dean in silence, not knowing what to say. Dean asked, “You know in Hell, time’s different? Yeah, so four months is actually more like forty years down there.”

Sam breathed at the enormity of his statement, what it meant, “Dean…”

But Dean continued, inching his way closer, “Every day I said… no way. There’s no way I’d do that. But…” Dean trailed a pale finger across an end table, rubbing the dust that came up between his fingers, “I cracked. They broke me, Sammy. Sure, it took ‘em thirty years of doing every agonizing thing imaginable to me. But in the end, I broke. And I started putting those souls on and cutting into those people.”

Dean appeared in front of Sam in an instant and tackled him to the ground, pinning his arms down under his knees, his hands on either side of his head, “And after being tortured for so many years, getting to be the one dealing out the pain started to feel real good. Like some kinda power trip. Oh, Sammy, it’s such a rush like you wouldn’t believe.”

Sam tried to break Dean’s grip, shaking his head, “No. No, you’re not real. You’re lying.”

The corner of Dean’s mouth twitched up, “Oh no, Sammy. I’m real. I mean, how did Meg know about her sister even after we ganked her? Nah, I’m the real deal. At least, a real piece of me.”

“Then stop,” Sam pleaded. “Please, Dean. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, and I wish I could’ve saved you. I’m still trying. I promise, I’ll get you out, just let me! Please!”

Dean clicked his tongue, “Clock’s tickin’, Sam. Even if you do figure something out, it might be too late.”

“What do you mean? Too late for what?”

Dean pushed his forearm to Sam’s neck, cutting off his air supply, and said, “Shut up and let me re-educate you, since you don’t seem to remember. You know what demons are, right? They all used to be human. But a few times through Hell’s fluff cycle and they go bad to the bone.” He chuckled when Sam’s eyes widened in horrible realization, unable to respond with the force on his throat, “Smart boy’s got it now. That’s right, Sam. It’s only a matter of time before even I’ll go dark side.”

Dean blinked and when his eyes opened again, his eyes were shiny and black, and a cruel smile split across his face. Sam’s face contorted in fear and pain at the sight, his mouth open but unable to cry out. He kicked his legs around, trying to buck Dean off, but the ghost was too strong. The lack of oxygen spotted his vision, and tears blurred what little he could see. He could barely make out a black-eyed Dean chuckling above him, “But hey, maybe me being a demon will make you work a little harder to get me back. Seems like you prefer their company. Thanks for that, by the way.”

Sam squeezed his eyes shut, hardly able to bear the sight anymore. His legs relaxed and his head swirled as the fight drained out of him. Dean said, “Aw, Sam. Checking out early? Looks like you still can’t save me. I’m still burning downstairs.” He leaned down to hiss bitterly into Sam’s ear, “You turned yourself into a blood-sucking freak for nothing. After dedicating my life and soul to you, you only turned out to be a disappointment. Worse; a monster. You might be the guy I went to hell for. But now you’re nothing to me.”

Suddenly, the weight was lifted off of Sam and he sucked in a desperate breath. He laid back on the floor, coughing or sobbing, he couldn’t even tell. He opened his eyes, and instead of Dean, he saw Ruby. He grimaced, ashamed, holding an arm over his eyes for a moment longer before brushing the tears away and getting back on his feet.

He rasped, “So, the spell worked then?”

“Yeah. Hey, Sam, are you alright?” Ruby reached for his hand, but he recoiled. She sighed, “It wasn’t him, Sam.”

“Did you hear? What he was saying?”

Ruby hesitated, “I caught some of it.”

“So? Is it true? Is that what happened to you?”

Ruby sighed, “Pretty much.”

Sam nodded, releasing a shaky breath, “O-okay… So will he… could he turn?”

“…It’s possible.”

Sam clenched his jaw and went back into the other room. He started to clean up all of the spellwork, ignoring Ruby’s efforts to talk to him. Dean’s voice haunted him, his words like knives, ripping open old wounds and tearing new ones. He spoke truths that Sam had been trying not to admit to himself for months. And the worst part of it was that Sam felt… loss.

He’d known Dean was dead. He knew he was facing a vengeful spirit. But he missed his brother so incredibly much, and every day he woke up in a motel room or drove the Impala either alone or with Ruby, Dean’s absence made itself known with its tremendous vacancy. It was a constant reminder that with every breath Sam took, Dean screamed in Hell. Seeing him, even above him as he strangled the life out of him, was a brief relief from the hollowness of the world without him.

So when he had disappeared for the final time, Sam was merely reminded again that he’d never see Dean again. Dean was gone. And as Dean’s spirit so harshly warned him, he was still suffering, and on the fast track to being so disfigured he’d become exactly what he’d been hunting his whole life. His life’s mission to save people, if the spirit was being truthful, had already been traded for torturing souls. Dean was already being transformed into something so opposite to his personality, it made Sam feel sick to his stomach.

Once everything was loaded into the Impala and Sam sat in the driver’s seat, gripping the wheel, Ruby said, “Listen, Sam. Those spirits were meant to throw you off. They might not have been entirely honest.”

Sam only sighed and pulled the Impala onto the road. Ruby continued awkwardly, comfort clearly not her forte, “If what Dean’s spirit said is true, he hasn’t turned yet. It typically takes much, much longer to turn. So… you’ve got time.”

Sam opened his mouth to ask how much, but decided against it. He hadn’t met his earlier deadline and was afraid to know when the next one was. With the seals breaking and the apocalypse looming, and knowing Dean would want him to keep hunting, Sam wasn’t sure he could keep this next one either. He couldn’t bear to be too late once again.

By the time they checked into a dingy motel room, Sam was decided, “What do I have to do?”

Ruby asked, “Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?”

“I’m out of ideas. How do I get Dean out?”

Ruby’s lips quirked up for a moment before she asked, “Will you let me finish this time, or are you going to cut me off in the middle like you do every time you get desperate and change your mind?”

Sam gave her a hard stare, “Just give me the details, Ruby.”

Ruby sat on the bed, propping herself up with her hands behind her, “Well, Sam, you’re the prophesized boy king. You’ve known it since the day we met, maybe even before that, if Azazel clued you in. Which he probably did, that big mouth; could never keep his big plans a secret for long.”

“Ruby. Cut to the chase.” Sam interrupted, sitting beside her.

Ruby rolled her eyes, hiding the excitement that rose under her skin, “Right now, you’re still only the _prophesized_ king. But you haven’t fulfilled that prophecy. There are things you have to do to become that king.”

“I don’t want to lead hell’s army. What does that have to do with anything?”

“It’s how you can enter hell unscathed and retrieve Dean yourself. With all of hell on your side, it’ll be a walk in the park. Right now, no demon will deal because Lillith won’t have it. If you kill her, you become king and whatever security Dean’s under will be eliminated. Any of Lillith’s straggling supporters will be taken out by your new legion of followers. Like I said, a walk in the park.”

Sam ran a hand through his hair as he weighed his options. Seeing as nothing else seemed to have the possibility of paving the way to Dean, he asked, “What do I have to do?”

Ruby risked a bit of her smile showing, “Really?”

Sam let out a shaky breath, “Y-yeah. If that’s what it takes.”

But Ruby could see plainly the shame and fear in Sam’s face, the hunch of his shoulders as he resigned himself to this new fate of his. She reached a hand up to the back of his neck, gently scratching at the fine hairs there in a gesture of consolation as she said softly, “I get that this is a big deal for you, Sam. I know it’s not easy to choose this, and if I’m being completely honest, it’s not going to get any easier. But I know why you’re doing it. And it’s admirable, Sam. I know you don’t see it now, but this just proves that you’re not a bad person for doing this.”

Sam sat there for a while, letting Ruby continue to tangle her fingers in his hair because he was craving any kind of comfort. Finally, he said, “Doesn’t matter what I am. I’m already a freak. If it can save Dean, I’ll quit denying it and do what I have to. So tell me. What’s next?”

“You’re not gonna like it. You have to get strong enough to kill Lillith. To do that…” Ruby paused a moment before she dropped the bombshell, “you have to drink demon blood.”

Sam twisted away from Ruby’s grasp as he jumped to his feet, his face contorted in disgust, “You can’t be serious!” Dean’s spirit was still fresh in his memory, spitting at him. _I died for you, I’m still burning in Hell for you, and this is what you do with your life? Bangin’ demons?_ Sam could only imagine how Dean, vengeful spirit or corporeal, would react to him drinking demon blood.

Ruby rose up, trying to take hold of his hands that he kept wrenching away from her, “You asked me for the next step. _This_ is it, Sam. You want to save Dean, this is how we do it. If I knew another way, I would’ve said so a long time ago.”

Sam took in her words, feeling as though he were on some great precipice, teetering dangerously between his human morality and a demonic demise. This was unacceptable. There had to be another way. He could find another way if he just had more time.

But the ghost of his brother sprung to the front of his mind, his words echoing in his head. _Clock’s tickin’, Sam. Even if you do figure something out, it might be too late. It’s only a matter of time before even I’ll go dark side._

Ruby’s hands found Sam’s and gripped them tight, waiting for his answer. Sam’s eyes met hers as he said vacantly, “Alright.”

“Alright? You’ll do it?”

Sam furrowed his brow. Couldn’t she leave it at that? But he had to say it again, to let her know he means it. To affirm that this is what he wants. He spits out with much more difficulty, “Yes.”

Ruby looked up at him, her face an amalgam of pity and pride. She reached up to Sam’s neck again, pulling him down for a kiss. And again, Sam let her, because in his most self-loathing moment, he was starved for anything that said he was doing the right thing. And the way Ruby kissed him spoke volumes. She was grateful. She was happy. She was reassuring and soothing. The storm in his heart couldn’t be tamed, but in Ruby he found some semblance of a shelter.

Sam ran his fingers through Ruby’s hair, wrapping his other arm around her, pulling her close as he returned the kiss hungrily, trying to take in more of the affection that she was giving.

Ruby nudged him back onto the bed, crawling over him and straddling his lap as he sat down. He ran his hands up and down her back, grasping at the fabric of her jacket in a frenzy, diving into this distraction from reality. But it didn’t last long.

Ruby pulled away from Sam gasping and revealed a knife she must have pulled from some hidden spot in her boot or her pocket. Sam sucked in a sharp breath as reality crashed down around him like a shock to his system.

Ruby shrugged off her jacket with no help from Sam who was too stunned to move a muscle. She watched his eyes warily, as if she was worried about spooking a horse into running as fast and as far away as possible from a threat as possible, slowly raising the blade to the pale skin on the inside of her elbow where her veins were most visible. Ruby whispered almost in audibly, “It’s okay, Sam. This is okay. You’re doing the best you can. It’s okay.” Sam stared, entranced, as the blade cut into the skin, drawing forth the bright red blood that looked so human, but which he knew contained some secret chemical X that would kick-start his downward spiral into demonic oblivion.

Ruby, never taking her eyes off of Sam’s, raised her arm to him, letting the blood trickle down, dripping onto Sam’s shirt. Sam couldn’t help the hard swallow of the lump in his throat. He was paralyzed in a strange kind of fear. He didn’t move, but his heart was pounding like he’d just been running for his life, his chest rising and falling largely and rapidly with heaving breaths. He was panicking, and something in his mind wrangled him back to some sort of rationality. He squeezed his eyes shut, and all he could see was Dean, eyes angry and black. His eyes snapped back open, and before he could change his mind again, he grabbed Ruby’s arm to his lips and licked up the small puddle of blood that had pooled in the crook of her arm.

Sam pulled away, drawing a ragged breath, still tasting the copper on his tongue. He couldn’t bring himself to look up at Ruby, so he returned his gaze to her arm instead, watching the stubborn vessel pump out another bead of blood that rolled and threatened to drip off of her arm again. It wasn’t until after Sam latched his lips around the wound again that he realized he felt compelled to stop the blood from spilling, from wasting a drop.

He was about to pull away again to gather his thoughts when Ruby’s fingers fluttered over the back of his neck again in that tender way, successfully masking her intent to restrain him, to keep him drinking as she breathed, “It’s okay, Sam. You’re doing so good.”

She continued to mutter her praise and Sam clung to her words, letting them distract him and draw him further into the haze, like a sailor towards a siren’s call, blissfully oblivious to his imminent destruction on the rocks. His head was swimming with a wild cacophony of thoughts that never seemed to fully reach cognitive awareness. He was light-headed and warmth spread through him, and he wasn’t alarmed at the various symptoms that bloomed in him the longer he drank, even though some persistent corner of his mind whispered that he should be.

He wasn’t sure for how long or how much he had drunk when Ruby pulled her arm away. He found himself stretching his neck out after it, only stopping when Ruby’s free hand found his chin and pushed his face up to look at her. She gave him a delicate smile and said, “You did so good, Sam. How do you feel?”

Sam couldn’t stop staring at Ruby’s bleeding arm until she bent it tightly to weaken the blood flow. His attention was slowly drawn away from it and he slowly raised his eyes up to Ruby’s, muttering, “What?” It was like he’d gone diving deep underwater. His whole body felt slack, almost weightless. His head seemed to feel a strange kind of pressure and Ruby’s voice sounded so far away. He could barely keep his eyes open.

Ruby’s smile sweetened and she spoke more slowly, “You’re having some side-effects. It’ll wear off. Eventually it’ll feel less like a poison and more like a Red Bull. You’ll get used to it.” Sam was having a hard time understanding her words until she asked, “Do you wanna sleep?” Sam nodded with a tiny grunt of approval and slumped over, resting his head on Ruby’s shoulder. Ruby laughed and pushed his shoulders back, forcing him to sit up, “Woah, there, Loopy. Wanna try lying down, getting under the covers?”

Ruby got up, Sam letting her pull him up to his feet, but not without a stumble, his knees bent and his chin resting on his chest since his neck and limbs were threatening to go completely slack. Ruby pulled the covers up from the bed, then went to undress Sam. She pulled off his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. By the time she got to his pants, Sam couldn’t support himself, and she let him lay down before taking off his shoes and socks and shimmying his jeans off. Sam curled up to retain some heat, shocked at the shiver brought on by a cold sweat and being stripped to his underwear.

Ruby pulled the covers over him, undressed, bandaged her arm, and slipped under the blankets beside him. She ran a gentle hand over his cheek and Sam reached for it with fingers so numb he couldn’t bend them. Ruby came closer, wrapping her arms around Sam, pulling his head to her chest so he could hear her borrowed heart beating and kissing his forehead as he gravitated toward her warmth. She rested her head on his and just before Sam slipped out of consciousness she whispered, “Amazing.”

 

* * *

 

 

Sam woke the next day, head pounding, throat sore, and just generally ill. He tried to turn his head but was hit with a wave of nausea so powerful he lurched over the side of the bed and vomited. Once the nausea had passed, Sam risked opening his sore eyes, finding the contents of his stomach spilled out on the floor, staining the carpet a deep, dark red.

The memory of the night before came back to him, causing him to wretch again. Guilt flooded through him as he slowly got to his feet, careful to keep his stomach from churning again. He hobbled into the bathroom, splashing cold water onto his face and rinsing the blood out of his mouth in the sink. A look in the mirror only told him that it looked like he’d just come back from a long night of drinking. Alcohol, that is, not demon blood.

Sam wandered back into the bedroom just in time to see Ruby coming in with a take-out bag. She smiled, “Well, if it isn’t sleeping beauty. Just went out to get you some fuel. Figured you’d prefer the rich and greasy stuff after last night.”

As soon as the smell hit Sam’s nose, he was stricken with a ravenous hunger. He dragged his feet towards it and snatched the bag from Ruby, dropping it on the table and tearing it open, practically inhaling one of the cheeseburgers. Ruby rubbed his back as he ate, “Woah, slow it down. Don’t start choking. I don’t know CPR.”

After two burgers and a huge handful of french fries, Sam started to pace his eating, managing to get a few words out, “Is that enough?”

Ruby asked, “What do you mean?”

“To kill Lillith?”

Ruby grimaced, bracing herself for the argument that was bound to come from Sam, “No. Not even close. You just had a taste. You have to drink for months to get used to the effects and get powerful enough.”

Sam shook his head, “I don’t have months, Ruby!”

“We can try to up your dosage and see how you handle it. But if you take more than you can handle, you could die. It’s a risky process, Sam, and you have to do it right or you’ll have done all this for nothing. You die, Dean stays in hell, Lillith holds her throne in hell. End of story.”

“Fine,” Sam said. “When can I go again?”

Ruby’s eyes widened, “I was expecting a little more reluctance.”

“I don’t really have much of a choice.”

“Alright then.” Ruby brushed Sam’s sweat-damp hair from his face, “I think you’ll be ready for round two in a couple of days.”

Sam looked up at her, “We can’t do it sooner?”

“I’ve got to replenish my own blood supply first. But if you want we could take another shot tomorrow.”

“What about other demons?”

“What about them?”

Sam bit back his instinct that was screaming at him to turn away now, “I can drink their blood, right? When I can’t have yours?”

“Yeah, but Sam, you’re not ready yet. Once your body gets a tolerance for it, we can talk about getting more, alright?”

“Alright,” said Sam. “So what’s our next move?”

Over the next few weeks, Sam was drinking demon blood on a regular basis. His body accepted it after some time, and began to feel invigorated and powerful. While hunting down Lillith, Ruby had been coaching him on exorcising demons with his psychic powers, a practice Sam only decided to use because it often meant the human vessel would survive.

After one particularly tough exorcism, Sam passed out. He woke up to find himself propped up against the wall and Ruby cleaning up the body of the demon she wound up stabbing. Sam felt a pang of guilt at being unable to save the vessel.

He slowly got to his feet, feeling a little hungover, not unlike the few days after his first drink of blood. He asked, “Did he talk? Any viable leads?”

Ruby scoffed, “As if you’re going hunting now?”

“If Lillith’s on the move, then I gotta be too. So? Any leads?”

“He said some witch is trying to work some ritual to break another seal.”

“What kind of ritual?”

“To raise Sam Hain. Origin of Halloween. If he rises, so does every kind of creepy crawly monster you’ve ever seen, and then some.”

“How much time do we have?”

“Halloween marks the 600-year marker.”

Sam snapped, “Ruby, that’s in three days! The whole town could get obliterated!”

Ruby sighed, “Fine. But Sam, there are other seals, other demons-“

“Yeah, but a town full of people could get wiped off the maps if we don’t try and stop this.”

They’d pulled into the town the next morning and he’d just finished interviewing witnesses of the first death and a second that had occurred while he was on his way there. His research had confirmed Ruby’s hunch and spoke with the teacher of a girl involved in both cases with whom she had a violent altercation, only heightening his suspicions that she was the witch. Ruby had gone off to try and locate the witch while Sam got back to their motel to see if he could track her down on his computer.

He opened the door and immediately pulled his gun from his belt when he saw a man with dark hair and a trench coat sitting in the kitchenette with his back towards him, “Who are you!” Upon further inspection, he saw a bald, dark-skinned man in a suit facing the widow on the far side of the room.

The man at the table got up and turned around, his eyes calm but piercing, “Hello Sam.”

Sam repeated himself, “Who are you?”

“My name is Castiel. I am an angel of the lord.”

“Bull!” Sam shouted.

Castiel took a step closer and Sam fired a round into his abdomen. He didn’t even flinch. He only stared at the new hole in his clothing.

Sam was stunned. He’d fired an iron round, the standard defense against most monsters he’d faced. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t human, but it wasn’t anything he’d faced before either. Most monsters at least reacted with pain.

Castiel said, “I know you are a man of faith, Sam. Or least, you were once. Try to find it in yourself to believe.”

Sam, still wary, lowered his gun, “An angel… how do I know you’re not lying?”

“As I said before, have faith. I mean you no harm.”

“Not yet,” said the other man who turned around to give Sam a cold stare.

Sam asked, “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Castiel said plainly, “Sam Winchester. The boy with the demon blood.”

Sam felt his cheeks flush with shame, but his defense quickly rolled off his tongue, “I’m saving lives.”

“We ask that you cease that particular practice.”

 “Enough of this.” The other man said, turning around and taking a few steps closer.

Sam asked, “Who are you?”

Castiel said, “This is Uriel. He’s somewhat of a… specialist.”

“A specialist? Of what, exactly?

Castiel asked, “Sam, have you located the witch yet?”

“I’m working on it.”

“Well, it seems that she’s found you.” He held up a hex bag, “This was in the walls of your room. If we hadn’t interfered, you’d surely be dead by now.” He put the bag down on the table and said, “You’re going to have to leave town. Immediately.”

“What? Why?”

Castiel frowned, appearing even more weary than he already did, “Because we’re about to destroy it.”

Sam gaped for a moment, “What? You can’t be serious. This is your plan?”

“We’ve run out of time. This witch has to die. The seal must be saved. Lucifer _cannot_ rise.”

“There are a thousand people here,” Sam argued.

“One thousand, two hundred and fourteen,” said Uriel, matter-of-factly.

“And you’re willing to kill them all?”

“This isn’t the first time I’ve… purified a city.”

Sam chilled at Uriel’s words, and he felt something like betrayal rise up in him. Castiel says sincerely, “I’m sorry. But we have our orders.”

Sam said, “No, you can’t do this. You… You’re angels.” Uriel chuckled under his breath as Sam continued passionately, “I mean aren’t you supposed to… you’re supposed to show mercy!”

Uriel asked, “Says who?”

Castiel said, “Have faith. This plan is just.”

“How can you even say that?” Sam asked.

Castiel said sternly, “Because it comes from heaven. That makes it just.”

Sam was angry, but more than that, he felt like a fool. He’d prayed to God, to angels, all of his life. He’d thought they would be righteous. He’d always believed that the powers that be always did what was right, but no matter which way he looked at this plan it was wrong in every way he could imagine. He pleaded, “Don’t do this. I can stop the witch. You won’t have to kill all of these people.”

The angels remained silent, like the calm before the devastation of a storm.

“Wait.” Sam asked, “Why do you want me to leave? Why did you even warn me?”

Castiel pursed his lips before responding, “Because God commanded it. We have work for you.”

The words seemed to take the breath out of Sam, they were so overwhelming. Once he’d gotten a hold of his bearings he asked, “What kind of work?”

“I don’t know. But the chain of command wants you to leave.”

“Then I’m not going.” Sam’s heart hammered in his chest, waiting for lightning to strike him for disobeying God, or even the angels in front of him. Uriel narrowed his eyes, plainly containing a distinct dislike for Sam, but Sam ignored it and said, “I’m staying. I’ll take care of the witch myself and save this town. If God wants me alive, you can’t do this.”

Uriel threatened, “I will drag you out of here myself.”

Sam challenged, “But then you’d have to kill me. Looks like you’ve still got a problem.”

Uriel shouted, “Castiel! I will not have this-“

“Enough!” Castiel raised his arm to stop Uriel. He then turned to Sam, “I suggest you move quickly.”

Before Sam could even think of something else to say, the angels had vanished. No haze, no smoke. Just plain disappeared. He’d never seen that before.

When Ruby had gotten back, unhappy about working now that angels had come into the picture (“They’re powerful, terrifying dicks.”), she and Sam had figured out where the witch was. They were taken off-guard, however, when the witch ended up being two witches – the girl and the art teacher. They managed to take the teacher out, but the girl immobilized them and completed the ritual, only to be killed by the newly-risen Sam Hain in the body of the teacher.

They followed Hain to the mausoleum, Ruby vacating a teen Halloween party just in time to save them from the undead corpses that had been reanimated, and Sam chasing after Hain in the hopes of stopping him from raising more monsters.

Hain put up a good fight, knocking Ruby’s knife from Sam’s grip and cornering him. As a last resort, Sam raised his hand and attempted to exorcise him. Pain split through his head and he could feel the blood trickling from his nose. Hain froze and black smoke began to pour out of him. Ruby, having finally caught up with Sam after fighting off ghosts and zombies alike, watched in awe as Sam gripped at his head, almost as if he were trying to keep it from exploding. But finally, Sam Hain was gone.

The next day, Sam was packing up, getting ready to leave town while Ruby was out searching for more leads when a familiar, deep voice startled him, “Tomorrow is November 2nd. That’s an anniversary for you.”

“What are you doing here?”

“It’s the day Azazel killed your mother. And 22 years later, your girlfriend too.” Uriel continued, “It must be difficult to bear, yet you brazenly used the power he gave you, his profane power pumping through your veins.”

“Excuse me?”

“You were told not to use your abilities.”

“What was I supposed to do?” Sam explained, “That demon would have killed me and everyone.”

“You were _told_ not to.”

“If Sam Hain had gotten loose in this town-“

“You’ve been warned. Twice now.”

Sam didn’t know why he felt such a rush of defiance, “Ruby was right. You are dicks.”

In an instant, Uriel was right in front of him. Sam stood rooted to the spot, fearing that maybe he had gone too far. Uriel muttered, “The only reason you’re still alive, Sam Winchester, is because you’ve been useful. But the moment that ceases to be true, the second you become more trouble than you’re worth, one word – one – and I will turn you into dust.”

Sam nodded, understanding the plain threat.

And then Uriel was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam had just finished working a case surrounding a wishing well that actually made wishes come true. He had, of course, been tempted to make a wish himself, but he was right to hold back since the wishes ended with terrible consequences.

Ruby was incredibly pleased with Sam’s work with Sam Hain. She had told him, “You’re stronger than I thought you’d be. You’re making some great progress. Hain’s no easy target, by any means.” She’d praised him and let him drink from her veins yet again, holding him close when he’d finished, even though he didn’t need taking care of anymore. His body wasn’t rejecting the blood anymore. It was fueled by it.

No, the intimacy just happened. It was more than the plain screwing they'd been going at before. It was never spoken about. Something changed when Sam began to drink. It changed who they were, who they were to each other. When Sam first drank, he needed Ruby’s constant, gentle attention. But lately, he simply wanted it. And Ruby, though she was not at all interested in talking about what went on in her own head, gave it to him, holding him, kissing him, and more. She credited her own eagerness to her innate demonic tendencies to take advantage of any carnal pleasures she could while she had a human vessel. But Sam didn’t have any excuse, and he knew it, choosing instead to ignore the voice in the back of his head telling him that he was treading on dangerous ground.

He’d done a bit of research but wasn’t finding any demonic omens to chase after, so he found himself in a bar one night, hustling pool.

“C’mon man, just one more. Give me a chance to make it back,” Sam slurred as he slumped over the table, leaning heavily on his cue stick.

“It’s your cash,” said the bald biker who’d decided to take advantage of Sam’s apparent inebriation to make a quick buck.

One of the biker’s friends looked at Sam in a mixture of pity and amusement, “Hey, don’t you think this guy is a little too sloshed to be gambling? Show a little mercy.”

“Hey, he insisted.”

“C’mon, you already made a profit off this guy. Give him a break.”

“Hey, shut up man,” said Sam. “I’m fine.”

“Well, then. Suit yourself.” The man leaned against the wall to watch his buddy make an easy win.

Sam said, “Let’s make it $500.”

The biker grinned, not believing his luck, “Sure.” Sam slapped his money on the edge of the table and the biker set up the balls, “Your break.”

Sam leaned over the table, making a show of prepping his shot, having the stick wobble back and forth in his fingers. But at the last moment, he struck the cue ball with precision just like Dean had taught him, back when he’d just gotten over his second growth spurt in as many years and Dean made up a fake ID to get him into bars and pool halls to teach him to hustle (and sneak him some beers). He got two balls in at the break. The biker stared, not sure if he was being played, or if Sam had just made a lucky shot.

Sam grinned and looked up from the table when he picked up a familiar face in his periphery, “Keep the money.” The biker glanced over at his friend, silently asking if this guy was serious, but Sam was already walking away towards the bar, having tossed his stick onto the table.

“Ruby. Hey. What’s going on?”

Ruby accepted her beers from the bartender, holding one out to Sam, “Got some new info. I’ve been hearing some whispers.”

“And? What is it?”

“A girl named Anna Milton escaped from a locked ward yesterday. The demons are jumping over each other to get to her. Even a few of the top dogs seem to be gunning for her.”

“Why? Who is she?”

“No idea,” said Ruby, taking a drink, “But she’s gotta be important since the orders are to capture her alive. I just figured you might want to find this girl before the demons do.”

“Alright. What hospital did she escape from?”

After interviewing hospital staff and discovering Anna’s cryptic drawings that predicted every seal that they had dealt with, and finding her parents dead in their home, Sam and Ruby searched for her in her parents’ church.

“Anna?” Sam called, creeping through the church’s attic, “We’re not here to hurt you. We’re here to help. My name is Sam. And this is my friend Ruby.”

A voice came from somewhere behind the clutter, “Sam? Not Sam Winchester?”

“Uh, yeah.”

A young, redheaded woman stepped out, but almost jumped right back, her eyes fixed on Ruby, “Oh! Her face!”

Ruby rolled her eyes, “Oh, thanks.”

Sam said, “Hey, hey. It’s alright. She’s not going to hurt you.”

Anna warily came a few step closer, “No, she won’t. She’s with you, Sam. _The_ Sam. The angels talk about you. Your brother Dean went to hell to save you, and you drink demon blood in the hopes of returning him to you. Some of the angels don’t like you at all, but others seem to have faith in you.” She looked over to Ruby with a grimace, “You, however, they despise.”

Anna looked back up at Sam with something like awe in her eyes, “They talk about you all the time lately. I feel like I know you.”

Sam asked, “You talk to angels?”

“Oh, uh, no. I kind of just hear them… in my head. I can’t shut them out; there’s so many of them.”

Ruby said, “So, let me get this straight. You’re just kind of tuned into their… angel radio?”

Anna breathed a sigh of relief, glad to be spoken to with genuine belief instead of the pitiful doubt that had been shown to her for the last few months, “Yes. Thank you.”

Ruby asked, “When did you first start hearing them?”

“I remember the date. It was September 25th.”

Ruby muttered to Sam, “It’s when you first started drinking.”

Anna continued, “The first words I heard, clear as a bell – ‘The Winchesters will bring paradise.’”

Sam asked, “What do you think that’s supposed to mean? Does that mean… Dean?”

“It’s above my pay grade,” Ruby scoffed. “But now we know why the demons want you so bad. If they get a hold of you, they’ll get to hear all the plans they’re cooking upstairs.”

Suddenly, Ruby swiveled her head around, then looked back at Sam in a panic, “Somebody’s coming. And by the smell of it, it’s a demon. A big-timer.”

Anna pointed at a statue of the virgin Mary, “What is happening?” From its eyes, the statue bled red, two trails running down the face and trickling onto the ground.

“It’s too late,” said Ruby, a quiet kind of horror in her voice.  “He’s here.”

Sam grabbed Anna’s arm, “Come with me” He led her into a closet and said, “Stay here. Don’t come out unless one of us gets you.”

He shut the door and came back to Ruby, pulling a flask of holy water from his pocket. Ruby said, “No, Sam. You’ve got to smoke this guy immediately. You exorcise him, or we die.”

Sam nodded, putting the bottle away, and braced himself as the door smashed in. An older man walked through, dressed sharply in a pinstriped suit. Sam raised his arm and focused his energy on exorcising the demon, but it only coughed, its eyes turning milky white, “That tickles.” The demon took a few steps closer and said, “You don’t have the juice to take me on, Sam.” He waved his hand through the air and Sam was thrown over his shoulder and down the stairs.

Ruby charged at the demon with her blade and made to stab at him, but he stopped her, throwing her up against the wall and delivering a swift punch to her face, causing her to lose her grip on her knife which slid across the floor, “Ruby, long time, no see. You do recognize me, don’t you? We were so close in hell.”

Ruby coughed, “Alastair.”

Alastair grinned evilly and was about to strike her again when Sam came up behind him and stabbed him with Ruby’s knife. Ruby ran to the closet to retrieve Anna and Alastair groaned in pain for a moment before spitting out, “You’ll need to try a little harder than that, kid.”

Sam watched as Alastair struggled with the knife in his chest, aware that this was a battle he couldn’t win. Not yet. He searched for a quick exit route, and jumped out of one of the stained glass windows, running as soon as he’d hit the ground, ignoring the glass that pierced his skin and the pain in his ankle.

While he was patching himself up at his motel room, Ruby contacted him rather unconventionally through the use of a vessel resembling a maid. He found them in an abandoned cabin where they had taken refuge and he asked, “You okay, Anna?”

Anna smiled, “Yes. I am. Ruby she… she saved my life.”

Sam smiled back, “Yeah, she comes in handy from time to time.”

Ruby released a pithy groan and said, “Alright, enough already.”

Anna asked, “Hey Sam, do you think it’d be-“ Suddenly she clutched at her head, gasping in terror, “They’re- They’re coming!”

The lights began to flicker and Ruby rushed Anna into a back room and came back, rifling through Sam’s bag, “Where’s the knife?”

Sam, who’d laid a line of salt at the door and checked his gun, stuttered, “Uh, I kinda… lost it. Fighting Alastair.”

“You’re kidding me! Impeccable timing, Sam, really.”

The door behind them swung open, ripping its frame from the wall. Sam swiveled around, gun raised, only to hesitate when Castiel came through with a gust of wind, Uriel following not far behind.

Uriel glared at Ruby but spoke to Sam, “Want to explain why you have that _stain_ in the room?”

Castiel ignored him and said, “We’re here for Anna.”

Sam asked, “Here to help her?”

“Stop talking,” Uriel barked. “Give her to us.”

Sam asked again, “Are you going to help her?”

“No,” said Castiel. “She has to die.”

“Why? I know she’s a risk with her abilities, but that’s no reason to kill her. You can protect her! She’s an innocent girl.”

Castiel said grimly, “She is far from innocent.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means she’s worse than this abomination you’ve been screwing,” said Uriel, acknowledging Ruby. “She committed a terrible crime. Now, give us the girl.”

“No.”

“You think you can stop us? _You?_ Or this demon whore?” Uriel grabbed Ruby and threw her across the room before raising her by her neck off the ground.

Sam kept his eyes on Castiel, who walked slowly, purposefully up to him, “Castiel, stop. Please.” Castiel seemed like someone he could reason with, probably the only angel who would consider hearing him out.

But the angel raised his hand and touched a finger to Sam’s forehead, and then he was unconscious.

When he came to, the angels were gone. Ruby helped him off the ground and asked, “What the hell just happened?”

“What? What did you see?”

“The angels just disappeared in some flash of light.”

Sam gazed around the room, still recovering from whatever Castiel did to his head. Finally, he said, “Anna.”

He rushed into the back room and found Anna with blood all over her arm, and red streaked across a mirror in some kind of crude sigil. Sam immediately made to wrap her arm and asked, “What happened? Did you kill them?”

“No,” Anna breathed. “I sent them away… far away.”

“How?”

She stared at the dripping sigil in the mirror, “That just popped in my head. I don’t know how I did it. I just did it.”

After he’d patched Anna up and left her to rest, Sam asked Ruby, “What do you think?”

“I think Anna’s getting more interesting by the second. What did they mean by she’s far from innocent?”

“I dunno. But there’s definitely more to her than this angel radio business. We’ve got to move. If what Anna said is true, the angels aren’t dead. They’ll come back.”

“Where are we going? What’s our next move?”

Sam sucked in a long breath before saying, “I think Anna’s got some soul searching to do. And I think I might know a psychic who can help us.”

So Sam brought them to Lawrence. The only time he’d been there since he was an infant was when he worked a case with Dean at their old home. That was the only memory he had of the town. He tried to brush away the familiarity of the place, all tainted with painful reminders of his brother, and drove until he found what he was looking for.

He was about to knock on the door of a cozy house in the charming suburban neighborhood when it swung open before his knuckles could hit the wood. He smiled weakly, “Missouri. Hi. I don’t know if you…“

“Of course I remember you, sweetheart,” said the kind-eyed woman, the lilt in her voice pleasant and reassuring. She took one of his hands in hers and her face sank as she said, “Oh, I am so very sorry about Dean.” Sam meant to say something, some kind of thanks for her condolences, but found he couldn’t get anything past the sudden lump in his throat. Missouri continued to gaze at him with pity, “But, my boy, what you’re doing… I know your heart’s in the right place, but is this really the way?”

Sam managed a wet whisper, “I have to get him back. I have to get him out of there.”

“You boys. No matter how much I can boast about my powers, I could never say I expected any of this for either of you.” Missouri sighed, “But that’s not why you’re here.”

Sam collected himself and said, “Yeah. I’ve got someone with me in the car who-“

“Bring her in. Or them, I should say.”

Ruby and Anna came over and Missouri took Anna’s hand in hers, “Oh, my dear. There’s a ton of things just _bubbling_ under the surface for you. Let’s see if we can’t shake a few things loose.”

Anna was laid out on the couch in the living room, under a hypnotic trance, and Missouri asked, “Anna, how can you hear the angels? How did you know to use that sigil?”

Anna muttered, “I don’t know. I just did.”

“Alright. Anna, could you tell me your father’s name?”

“Rich Milton.”

“Can you look further back? To when you were very small. What was your real father’s name?”

Anna’s face grew distressed and she shook her head back and forth, “No. No!”

Her body convulsed on the couch and her limbs flung out. Missouri said, “Calm down, it’s okay here.”

Anna let out a blood-curdling scream, “No! He’s gonna kill me! No!”

“It’s safe here, Anna.”

Anna twisted and all of the light bulbs in the house blew out simultaneously. Sam was about to reach over to try and restrain Anna to keep her from hurting herself, but a sharp warning from Missouri held him back.

Anna screamed again, “He’s gonna kill me!”

Missouri raised her voice just enough to be heard over Anna’s, “Anna, you’re going to wake up in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”

Anna slumped back down on the couch, panting. Her eyes slowly opened and Sam stared, almost not recognizing her. Anna rose up to sit and said, “Thank you, Missouri. That helped a lot. I remember now.”

“Remember what?” Sam asked.

“Who I am. I’m an angel.” She looked over at Ruby, who had taken a few steps back, “Don’t worry. I’m not like the others. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I don’t find that very reassuring,” Ruby responded.

Sam asked, “What else do you remember? Why do Castiel and Uriel want you dead?”

A faded smile passed over Anna’s lips as she said, “We used to be in the same foxhole, so to speak. I was their commander until… I disobeyed. And orders are orders. They’re only after me because they were told.”

Ruby asked, “What do you mean, you disobeyed?”

“For angels, disobeying is just about the worst thing you could do. So I fell and ripped out my grace. Preferable to what was waiting for me in heaven.”

“Your grace?”

“It’s like… energy. What makes an angel an angel. Without it I was born as a human.”

Ruby spoke up, “I don’t think you all appreciate how screwed we are.”

“She’s right,” Anna said. “Heaven wants me dead.”

“Yeah, and hell just… wants her. A flesh-and-blood angel that you can question, torture, that bleeds.” Ruby turned to Anna, “Sooner or later, heaven or hell, they’re gonna find you.”

“That’s why I have to get it back. My grace.”

“Well, where the hell is it?”

After a little research and a long drive, they came upon a beautiful tree, sprung up from the earth when Anna’s grace touched down years before. But the grace itself had since been lost. And so they had to come up with another plan. Ruby reluctantly handed herself over to Alastair in an attempt to get more information while Sam stayed behind in an abandoned farmhouse to protect Anna.

They were putting up protective sigils, warding off angels and demons alike, when Anna paused, “Sam, what are you doing?”

Sam looked at Anna, up at the angel-warding sigil he was working on, and back at Anna, “What? Am I doing it wrong?”

Anna shook her head, “Not that. I mean, why are you helping me? I don’t have my grace. I’m powerless. Don’t you think it’s a little dangerous, getting mixed up in the middle of a gang war between heaven and hell?”

Sam let out the breath of a chuckle, more from nerves than anything, “Yeah, well… I guess I’m not that smart.”

Anna stayed silent for a moment before going back to her work. Sam finished his sigil and was bandaging up his arm when he said, “Can I ask you something?”

When Anna nodded, Sam asked, “What did the angels mean? ‘The Winchesters will bring paradise’?”

“I’m sorry. The angels aren’t talking about it. And since I fell, I’d been out of the loop for a while.”

Sam stared at his blood, the blood dripping from the walls and seeping through his bandage when he said, “That brings up another question. Why would you fall? Why do you want to be like us?”

“You don’t mean that.”

Sam shook his head, “No, really. I mean, humans? We’re flawed, that’s for sure. I mean, just take a look at me.  And everyone else… we’re confused and scared and angry. Why would you want that?”

“I dunno. There’s loyalty. Forgiveness. Love.”

“Pain?”

Anna countered, “Chocolate cake.”

Sam asked pointedly, “Guilt?”

“Sex.”

Sam raised his eyebrows briefly in surprise as he admitted, “Can’t really argue with that one.”

A small smile graced Anna’s face before it faded as she said, “I mean it. Every emotion, even the bad ones… That’s why I fell. It’s why… I’d give anything not to have to go back.”

“But… but angels… I mean, you’re powerful. Perfect. You don’t have doubt in anything. You have God.”

Anna scoffed, “Sam, do you know how many angels have even _seen_ God?”

Sam offered a weak, “All of you?”

“Four angels, Sam. _Four_. And I’m not one of them.”

“Then… Then how do you know there’s a God?”

“We have to take it on faith. Which we’re killed if we don’t have.”

Sam sighed grimly, “That’s… awful.”

“Tell me about it.” She finished her sigil and wiped the blood from her arm before letting Sam wrap it up. She watched his hand move, careful, meticulous, as she said, “Thank you.”

Sam glanced up at her before focusing again on her wound, “For what?”

“Everything.”

Sam looked up at her again, “Hey… don’t mention it. It’s kind of… what I do, I guess.”

Anna stared at nothing in particular, “I dunno. Maybe I don’t deserve to be saved.”

“Don’t say that.”

“I disobeyed,” said Anna. “ _Lucifer_ disobeyed. It’s our murder one, and I knew it. Maybe I have to pay for it.”

“We’ve all done things we’ve got to pay for,” said Sam grimly.

Anna laid a hand on his shoulder, “Sam. What you’re doing for Dean… I know it seems wrong. Maybe it is. But your reasons for doing it… they’re admirable. That… That’s what I fell for, Sam.”

 

* * *

 

 

Sam was walking into the barn when a deep voice startled him, “It’s so cute when monkeys wear clothes.”

Sam started when he saw Uriel before him. But he took in his surroundings. No sigils. No Anna. In fact, he wasn’t sure how he got there. But he knew the angels would find a way to contact him, one way or another, “I’m dreaming, aren’t I?”

“It’s the only way to communicate with you, seeing as you’re hiding like cowards.”

Sam asked, “Where’s Castiel?”

“He’s, ah, not here,” said Uriel, with a smirk. “See, he has this weakness. He likes you. But I don’t. And your time is up. Give me the girl.”

“I don’t think you want to mess with her right now.” Sam lied as best as he could manage, “We found her grace. She’s at full power right now, and I don’t think she’s gonna go down easy.”

Uriel raised his eyebrows, “Oh, really? That’s funny.” He reached under the collar of his shirt and tugged at a thin chain around his neck, from which was dangling a vial that glowed a bright blue, “Because I have her grace right here.” He tucked the vial back in his shirt and said, “We can’t let hell get a hold of her.”

Sam said, “Then why don’t you just give her her grace back?”

“She committed a serious crime.”

“What? Having a mind of her own?”

“This is our business. Not yours.”

Sam said adamantly, “Regardless, we’re not gonna give her up that easy.”

Uriel smiled in a way that made Sam’s stomach uneasy, “Yes, you will.” He approached Sam who clenched his jaw, anticipating some kind of fight, “You just got to know where to apply the right pressure.”

Uriel circled around a motionless Sam, pausing behind him as he murmured, “What have you heard about your brother’s stay downstairs?”

A shiver ran down Sam’s spine as the conversation turned exactly the way he was hoping it wouldn’t. When he didn’t answer, Uriel said, “From what I heard he’s no longer the punching bag, nor the pin cushion. No, he’s moved on up. Has he always been so good with a knife in his hand?”

Sam shut his eyes, willing himself to wake up and escape this nightmare. But Uriel had him bound inside of his own head and he came back around to face Sam, “He’s earning quite the reputation down there, making hell live up to everyone’s expectations as he carved into soul after soul after soul, selfishly relishing in torturing those anonymous sinners so he won’t have to feel that same pain himself again. It’s sad, really, how desperate he had to be to give in to it.”

Sam choked out, “Shut. Up.”

Uriel smiled, ignoring Sam, “It’d be too easy to threaten you with hell. You Winchesters are all about sacrificing yourself for others. You have an amazingly small amount of self-worth for humans, and I don’t exactly blame you for that way of thinking. If anything, you’re the sanest of them all for recognizing how insignificant you are, and for that I suppose you deserve some inkling of my respect.

“But I’m rambling. This all seems to have started way back when you were just a baby, isn’t that right? When mommy dearest burnt to a crisp?” Sam could feel the rage building inside of him, his fists clenched tightly, yearning to connect with Uriel’s face violently. He wished his powers worked on angels as Uriel continued, “Now, I know for a fact that she’s up in heaven, peaceful. Happy. At rest. But I can change that in a heartbeat.”

Sam’s eyes snapped open and he saw red. But he couldn’t move. It might have been Uriel’s power or simply fear that kept him from lunging as he snarled, “Don’t. Don’t you dare.”

Uriel let out a sharp bark of a laugh, “Now we’re getting somewhere. A Winchester family reunion in hell. Now, what do you think Dean would do? Is he so far gone that he’d carve into mommy, just to stay off the rack? Or would he drop the knife and go back to getting tortured? Either way, he’s gonna have to hear her scream. Is he gonna do it with her or will he be the one causing it?”

Sam felt his chest clench and his eyes prickle at the thought. He pleaded, “Don’t. Don’t do this. Please.”

Uriel turn his back to Sam, his smile spreading wide across his face, “You know how to stop it.”

 

* * *

 

 

The next day, Anna and Sam waited in the barn for Ruby and, unbeknownst to Anna, Uriel. Sam’s stomach churned with guilt, uneasy with his betrayal of her. Anna asked, “Are you okay?”

Sam cleared his throat, “Uh, yeah. Just… just worried. Ruby’s taking a while.”

Before Anna could respond, a strong wind made the barn doors rattle until they flung open to reveal Castiel and Uriel. Castiel stepped forward, “Hello, Anna. It’s good to see you.”

Anna asked, “How did you find us?”

Castiel merely glanced up at Sam who hung his head.

“Sam?” Anna asked.

“I’m sorry.”

Sam couldn’t bring himself to look at her until she breathed, “Oh. They gave you a choice. I know how their minds work.”

Sam gave her a miserable look and Anna merely touched her fingers to his wrist gently, “You did the best you could. I forgive you.” Her words cut through Sam. He didn’t feel like he deserved it, but before he could argue, Anna turned to the other angels, her eyes hard, “Okay. No more tricks. No more running. I’m ready.”

“I’m sorry,” said Castiel.

“No, you’re not. Not really. You don’t know the feeling.”

“Still… we have a history. It’s just-“

“Orders are orders,” Anna finished for him. “I know. Just make it quick.”

Castiel’s eyes lingered on her, his face plain but his eyes seemed to tell a different story.

“Don’t you touch a hair on that poor girl’s head.”

Sam and Anna spun around to see Alastair and Ruby, the latter being held up by two other demons as she panted in exhaustion, the front of her shirt stained a dark red. The demons tossed her aside and she crawled closer to the wall, just as Sam and Anna edged to the other side of the barn, staying clear of the powerful entities before them.

Uriel stepped forward, “How dare you step into this room, you pussing sore?”

“Name-calling,” said Alastair. “That hurt my feelings, you sanctimonious fanatical prick.”

“Turn around and walk away now,” demanded Castiel.

“Sure. Just give us the girl. We’ll make sure she gets punished good and proper.”

“You know who we are and what we will do,” Castiel said darkly. He stepped closer, beside Uriel, the power in him almost palpable, “I won’t say it again. Leave now… or we lay you to waste.”

“I think I’ll take my chances,” challenged Alastair.

They paused for a brief moment, sixing each other up. The silence was deafening and the tension was thick in the air. And then Uriel lunged, one of Alastair’s lackeys meeting him in the middle with a raised fist. The other demon tried to attack Uriel as well, but the angel made easy work of disabling the two of them, but not without jostling from his shirt the glowing vial that hung from his neck.

Castiel fought Alastair, each of them delivering swift blows to the other until Castiel laid his hand on Alastair’s head. But nothing happened. Castiel’s eyes widened as Alastair hissed, “Sorry, kiddo. Why don’t you go run to daddy?” He shoved Castiel off of him and knocked him to the ground where he pinned him.

Uriel exorcised one of the lesser demons, but Alastair had Castiel’s throat in his hands, reciting something in Latin that had Castiel groaning in pain, his eyes beginning to roll back. Sam grabbed a crowbar that had hung from one of the support beams and defended Castiel, knocking back Alastair with a heavy bash to his head.

Alastair stumbled back, quickly righting himself and coming closer, “Sam, Sam, Sam… I’m very disappointed. You had so much promise!” He raised his hand to Sam and something came over him, like his insides were being twisted up inside of him, burning so hot to the point he could hardly breathe. Alastair spit out, “Your brother was one thing, but you… You’re the golden ticket. And you’re wasting your potential with these feathered sissies.”

Uriel was exorcising the second demon when Anna ran over to him, snatching the vial of her grace that dangled from his throat and smashing it to the ground where it shattered. Uriel cried out in protest as the grace trickled into Anna, the tendrils of light being absorbed into her. She began to convulse and she screamed, “Shut your eyes! Shut your eyes!”

Alastair released Sam who scrambled back against the wall, catching a glimpse of Anna who was growing brighter and brighter. He shielded his eyes behind his arm as she screamed and the light burned through the room. And then it faded.

Sam peeked over his arm before rising up onto his feet. Alastair was gone. So was Anna. Ruby’s knife was on the ground where Alastair must have discarded it. Sam picked it up as the angels approached him and he said, “So, now what? Gonna go find Anna? Unless you’re scared of her?”

Uriel started towards Sam, “This isn’t over.”

Castiel held him back and Sam said, “Looks like it’s over.”

Uriel gave him one last glare, and then he and Castiel were gone.

Ruby struggled in the corner to get to her feet and Sam rushed over to help her, “You okay?”

“Not so much.”

“You took a while to get back. Are you sure you’re…”

Ruby looked up at Sam with something like wonder in her eyes before she looked down at her pants, brushing them off, “I’ll be fine. It’s not like I’ve never been tortured before.”

Sam took one of her hands and she stared up at him again, that same strange look in her eye. Sam said, “I’m sorry. And thank you. Without your help, we couldn’t have gotten him here.”

Ruby offered him a small smile, “Yeah, well, you were right. Bringing them all together. Sure did the trick.”

Sam still looked at her, regret written all over his face, “Still, I… I was hoping he wasn’t going to hurt you.”

Ruby rolled her eyes and took her hand away, shoving it in her pocket, “Yeah, well, that’s Alastair. Torture’s kind of his specialty. Or maybe his drug. He’s one of the scariest bastards in hell. He hasn’t been downstairs in a while, so I’m sure he was just itching to get a taste of it again. I kind of figured.”

Sam nodded, still not feeling any better about it. Finally he asked, “Do you know what Alastair meant? He said I… had promise.”

“You’re powerful, Sam. And you’ll only get stronger, stronger than any demon in hell. And Alastair knows that. He’s terrified of you, and he wanted to wrap you around his finger while he still has some leverage.”

Sam bit his lip before asking quickly, “And Dean… do you think Alastair…”

Ruby sighed, “I wouldn’t be surprised. Dean’s kind of high-profile down there. I’m sure Alastair must have… spent some time with him.”

Sam frowned and said, “Alastair he… he mentioned Dean. He said… Dean was one thing but I was the golden ticket. What did he mean?”

Ruby shrugged, “I dunno. Alastair’s one cryptic son of a bitch. And I’m not exactly well-connected to what’s happening in hell these days. If anything, it only proves that he had something going on with Dean. I don’t know exactly what kinds of plans he had for either of you.”

“Yeah, that’s not unsettling,” Sam said. “There’s no chance whatever Anna did killed him, is there?”

“I wish it were that easy. His vessel is toast, that’s for sure. But Alastair himself… I can’t be sure. I’m sure if he survived he’ll let us know as soon as he’s able.”

 

* * *

 

Over the next few weeks, Sam and Ruby had been exploring other cases. Their leads on the seals ran dry, so Sam insisted they take normal hunting jobs. And every night, Sam would drink.

The power seemed to course through him at the first drop. His tolerance had gone up. He was no longer experiencing the vertigo and nausea that plagued him previously. Instead, the blood kept him feeling powerful for days, and with every drink, he could feel himself going stronger.

Sam started taking out demons left and right. It had become second nature for him. When he was ready to drink again, he would weaken some lower-level demon and drink its blood, since Ruby was no longer able to provide him with all of the blood he needed. But he still drank from her veins regularly. He had stopped asking why she pushed him to drink her blood when it clearly made her weak. He felt himself wanting to drink more and more, so by the time he came up with a coherent argument, he found his lips were too busy, either under Ruby’s, or at the slit in her arm.

Ruby was right to think that Alastair would be back. Bobby called Sam, telling him to check out a case in a small town where people weren’t dying, even after being shot in the heart. Ruby guessed that the local reaper must have gone missing, but just to be sure, they decided to try and communicate with a little boy who was the last person who died in the town to see if he knew anything.

Sam was in the middle of digging up the boy’s grave when a groundskeeper approached them. Ruby immediately recognized him, but he was too quick for her, waving an arm and sending her flying head first into a tombstone.

Alastair tried to do the same to Sam, but nothing happened. He muttered, doing a good job of hiding the anger and fear that Sam knew was churning under the surface, “You’re stronger, Sam. You’ve been soloflexing with your little slut?”

Sam smirked, relishing the fact that he finally had the upper hand, “You have no idea.” He raised his own arm, flicking his hand, and Alastair was thrown against a tree. Sam held up his hand and invoking the power the demon blood instilled in him was hardly a chore anymore. Remembering their last encounter, Sam felt invigorated with the progress he’d been making. So this time, exorcising Alastair was a success.

Ruby woke up in a hotel room hours later. She groaned as she slowly pushed herself up to sit on the bed, her other hand pressed against the side of her head where she found a nasty bump, “Ow. What the… hell?”

Sam looked up from his computer and books scattered across the table in the kitchenette, “Oh, good. You’re up.”

“Yeah. And you need to tone down that chipper vibe. You know I’m not a morning person.” Ruby cautiously tapped at the bump on her head, pulling her fingers away and checking for blood. Finding none, she looked back up at Sam who still hadn’t wiped the smile from his face, “What?”

Sam shook his head and shuffled through his papers, “Nothin’.” But he was a terrible liar.

“What are you so happy about? Last I heard demons were still trying to start the apocalypse, in case you forgot.”

“Oh yeah, they’re trying,” said Sam, carefully containing himself.

Ruby watched the twitch of Sam’s lips and asked, “Dude, seriously, what is your deal? What happened?” She wracked her foggy mind for a moment before it clicked, “Alastair, did he-?” Sam’s grin spread wide across his face and Ruby gaped, “You didn’t.”

Sam laughed, “I did.”

“No headaches? No nosebleeds?”

“Nope. It was almost… easy.”

Ruby hadn’t realized her smile now matched Sam’s. She rose from the bed, ignoring the pounding in her head as she went over to Sam who turned to face her with arms wide open to wrap around her as she rewarded him with a kiss, “Sam! This is… awesome!” And she had meant it in the literal sense. Sam was exceeding her expectations by leaps and bounds. She kissed him again, softly, and said with sincerity, “I’m sorry I missed it.”

Sam gingerly touched Ruby’s head, careful not to hurt her as he checked her injury, “Yeah, well, maybe next time. He’s not dead. Chances are we’ll see him again soon.” Ruby winced and Sam raised his hand away, “Sorry. How are you feeling?”

“I’ll be fine. How long was I out?”

“You were in and out all night.”

“So I guess you didn’t get to talk to that dead kid.”

“Didn’t have to. Did some research, made a few calls. Bobby gave me a pretty good lead.” Ruby hid her unease as Sam pulled an old text from the table, opening it up to a page he had earmarked, “He thinks you’re right. The local reaper’s missing.” He ran his fingers down the dusty page, “Listen to this. ‘And he bloodied death under the newborn sky, sweet to taste but bitter once devoured.’”

“Wait, am I too concussed, or is that talking about killing reapers? I thought that was impossible.”

“Well, this comes from a very obscure, very arcane version of Revelations. Which means—”

“A seal.”

Sam nodded and slid the book back on the table, picking up a page from a legal pad he’d been scribbling notes on, “Yep. Basically, you kill a reaper under the solstice moon – tomorrow night, by the way – you got yourself a broken seal. This all smells like Lillith’s doing. I don’t know how she plans on killing a reaper though.”

Ruby said, “There’s got to be some kind of spell. I’ll go and see what I can dig up from the local demons.”

“No,” Sam said, grabbing her wrist, “No way. You need to rest.”

“I’m _fine_ , Sam.”

“No, you’re not. You don’t exactly look like the picture of health.”

Ruby rolled her eyes, “I’m kind of inhabiting a soulless, brain-dead vessel, in case you forgot.”

Sam faltered, just for a moment, and let go of her, “Regardless, I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’d rather you didn’t risk your neck.” He picked up a pen and idly tapped it against the table as he said, “I’m actually wondering where the angels are. We could use their help on this. I mean, they seem to want the same thing.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Yeah, well, doesn’t matter. Unless they decide to show up, we’re gonna have to handle this one on our own.”

“Alright. But I don’t know how we’re gonna do this. I mean, I can see reapers, but if they’re missing, I dunno how I’m gonna be able to spot one.”

And so they did the only thing they could think of, wearing their fed gear and visiting the house of the last person to die in the town, hoping that maybe they could find out if he knew anything. Sam was interviewing the young boy’s mother (who he’d gotten to admit to witnessing objects flying across the room, despite her fear for her sanity) when Ruby, who had been leaning against a doorframe, peering into some of the other rooms in the house, interrupted, “Excuse me, Mrs.Griffith? Do you mind if I take a look upstairs?”

The distraught woman nodded, “Cole’s room is the second door on the right.”

Ruby idly tugged at her earlobe, a signal she’d established with Sam indicating that she needed time. So Sam continued to question the woman and let her reminisce about her son while Ruby made her way up the stairs.

Ruby swung open the door to the boy’s bedroom and found the reaper she’d spotted gliding through the air. She held up her hands, “I’m not here to try anything.”

The reaper, having taken the corporeal appearance of a young woman, glanced at Ruby skeptically, “You’re a demon.”

“Yeah, I’m aware. So trust me when I say that demons are targeting you. It’s not safe here for you. I suggest you leave.”

The reaper narrowed her eyes, “What game are you playing? Whose side are you on?”

“Clearly I’m on yours. Just because I’m a demon doesn’t mean I’m like the rest.”

“No, you’re not,” the reaper said. “I think you might be worse.”

Ruby crossed her arms, “Listen, if you want to die, go right ahead. You’ll just be another speed bump for me.”

The reaper considered her for a moment before saying, “If you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

“What? You’re gonna take the kid? He’s still around?”

“Do you have a problem with that?”

Ruby shrugged, “Couldn’t care less about that twerp. Only issue I have is you getting yourself killed. You’re kind of caught in the middle of this.”

The reaper said coolly, “What, your whole angel-demon dance off? I could care less. I just want to do my job.”

“Yeah, I get that. I’m totally cool with you getting back to work. It’s just… messy. It’d be easier if you held back until we cleared this mess up. Could kinda help us with this apocalypse business.”

The reaper looked her up and down, “Fine. But just-“

Right at that moment, the window snapped open, curtains billowing as a huge cloud of black smoke filled the room. Ruby was thrown to the ground and yelled, “Sam!”

His footsteps came thundering up the stairs and he came into the room in time to see the last tendrils of smoke escape the window. He lifted Ruby to her feet and asked, “What happened?”

Ruby could hear the woman coming up the stairs herself so she muttered just loud enough for Sam to hear, “Reaper was here. Demons got her.”

They gave the woman an awkward goodbye and as they made their way to the Impala, Sam said, “The kid’s mom told me that the kid’s funeral was weird. Lights flickering, smelling like sulfur. Probably where they’ve set up for the spell.”

And so they prepared their arsenal and made their way to the funeral home that evening. Ruby peered out of the window of the car, “There are sigils all over the place.”

“Can you get in?”

“It’s not demon-proof. Yeah.” She looked back to Sam, “Alastair’s in there.”

Sam gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, his knuckles going white, “Okay. Let’s just…” He struck the steering wheel and cursed under his breath, “Ruby, he can’t-“

Ruby was already rolling up her sleeve, “I know.” She sliced at the bend of her arm and Sam immediately latched onto her, sucking up the venom in her that would make him strong. Ruby had to pull herself away from Sam, “I can’t give you any more. Was that enough?”

Sam panted as if he’d just run a mile, nodding, “Yeah, I think so. Let’s go.”

They crept into the funeral home, guns cocked and at the ready, Ruby’s knife tucked safely away at her belt. They peered into the main room and Ruby tilted her head towards the center of the room where a strange symbol was painted on the floor. She whispered, “They’ve got two reapers. Enough for the spell. And that’s Alastair.”

He was in a different body, taller and younger than the other vessels he’d taken, pacing around the sigil, biding his time until the moon was positioned rightly for the spell. Sam and Ruby came forward and Alastair didn’t even looked surprised as a smile grew on his face, “I was starting to wonder if you were just going to hide there all night.”

Ruby struggled as a demon came up behind her, restraining her, and before Sam could react, something connected heavily with the back of his head, knocking him out.

Alastair’s grin grew wider as he drawled, “Well, now that we’ve got your attack dog out of the way, let’s talk brass tacks.” Ruby glared at Alastair and tried to get out of the other demon’s grip, but he was too strong. Alastair peered at her curiously, “I can’t quite put my finger on you.”

“Yeah, let’s keep it that way,” Ruby snapped back.

Alastair chuckled but otherwise ignored her as he continued, “You see, you keep flitting back and forth. Whose team are you playing for, huh?”

“I could ask the same of you. Never took you for one of Lucifer’s lackeys. Or maybe you’re Lillith’s bitch?”

At that, Alastair smirked, “You couldn’t be more wrong. I want that bitch dead.” He paced around Ruby, pulling her knife from her belt and twisting it around idly in his hands, “As you may know, she’s one of the very few who outranks me. And I’m not used to leaving the comforts of my hellish post to do somebody else’s dirty work.” He glanced over his shoulder and pointed the knife at the reapers on the ground before narrowing his eyes and shaking his head, “This ain’t my job, sweetie.”

Alastair looked back and forth between the knife in his hand and Ruby before finally deciding to drag the blade across her cheek, cutting a shallow, burning line into her skin as she hissed in pain. He muttered, “But what I’m wondering is, is it yours?”

Ruby only pursed her lips in defiance, the memory of his torture still fresh in her mind. Alastair came closer, his eyes alight, “See, I think I know where your loyalties really lie. For such a young demon, you’re really quite clever. I’ve got to say, I like your spunk. You’re a traitorous, backstabbing little slut. And your capacity for deceit is just… well, it’s admirable, really.” He met her persistent silence with a knowing grin, “I’m sure you won’t mind if I go ahead do you a favor by breaking this seal. I’ve got a deadline, you see.”

Alastair made his way to the center room, putting Ruby’s knife down on a table in exchange for a small, rusty scythe. He tugged one of the reapers up by the lapel of his jacket and said, “You know, it’s not just because of Lillith. I just really like a bit of chaos, and boy, the apocalypse is just way the to shake things up. Maybe it’ll make this place start to feel like home.” He recited a line of spell work before viciously carving open the reaper’s throat. “And that’s just want you want, too, isn’t it? You’ve got everything just where you want it, and at great personal risk. My girl, you really deserve a promotion. Or maybe an acid bath.”

Alastair got up and made his way around the circle, wiping his blood-splattered hand on his slacks. As he knelt down beside the reaper Ruby recognized from earlier, Alastair glanced over his shoulder at her and said, “After this, though, I’ll have to take care of you. Can’t have someone like you screwing things up for everybody. Might even get rid of your boy toy here for good measure. Daddy’ll bring him back when the time comes, won’t he?”

Ruby struggled again to escape her captor’s grip. After a moment of struggling, Ruby felt the demon’s hold slacken as he began to sputter behind her. She jerked herself away from him and turned to see Sam on his feet, slightly unstable, but with his arm raised, determinedly exorcising the demon.

When the demon’s body fell, Alastair looked up in the middle of his incantation only to meet Ruby’s boot in his face. The reaper had woken up but couldn’t escape the circle. Ruby shouted, “Sam! The sigil!”

Sam grabbed Ruby’s knife from the table and scraped an ugly scribble into the paint, breaking the circle. The reaper rose up and grabbed at him.

Sam spun around as he suddenly appeared in front of the funeral home, wondering what the hell had just happened.

Ruby ran out the back door of the funeral home, away from a snarling Alastair, terrified now that she was on her own with one of her worst nightmares. He flicked his hand and Ruby crashed into the wall, pinned as Alastair crushed the manicured grass beneath feet making his way towards her and wrapped his fingers around her throat, “You treacherous snake. Thought you could trick me, but you just showed me your entire hand. You really want to play this game? You really want to go up against the big boys?”

Ruby choked, her eyes watering as Alastair’s power seeped through his hand, making her vessel suddenly feel like a vice, threatening to spill her out onto the floor in a cloud of smoke. Just when she thought she was about to burst, the reaper appeared and grabbed Ruby’s arm. Ruby spared Alastair a smug smirk before vanishing.

Ruby crouched on the curb sucked in a desperate breath before rasping, “Thanks. Wasn’t counting on you coming back for me. Why?”

“A life for a life. I’d rather not be indebted to a demon.”

“Hey, I’ll take it.” She glanced around, “Where’s Sam?”

“I left him here.”

“Damn it!”

Sam had gone back into the funeral home, seeing red. His head was still pounding from where he’d been struck, but he didn’t let that interfere as he stormed into the main room. When he wasn’t there, Sam called, “Ruby?” He walked further into the home to find the back door ajar, so he went through it to find Alastair who stood alone, facing the wall, seething with rage. Sam barked, “Where is she?”

Alastair slowly turned to face Sam, teeth bared, “Don’t even start with me.”

“Tell me where she is. Now.”

Alastair’s lips curled up, “I have your brother and now I have your whore. But trust me, I was doing you a favor with her.” He took a step forward as he drawled, “What will you do, Sam?”

Sam raised his arm but jumped away when a loud crack pierced the air, a bolt of blue light engulfing Alastair. When the light faded, Alastair was gone.

Sam stared at his hand in shock, “What the… hell?”

“Guess again.”

Sam whipped around to see Castiel standing behind him.

With Sam speechless, Castiel said, “What just happened; you and Ruby just saved a seal. We captured Alastair. Sam, this was a victory.”

“Yeah, no thanks to you.”

“What makes you say that?”

Sam stared at Castiel for a moment before shaking his head, “You…you were here the whole time?”

“Enough of it. You can’t see it, but there’s a script on the walls. We couldn’t penetrate it.”

“Angel warding?”

“Why do you think I recruited you in the first place?”

Sam blinked, “What?”

Castiel said somberly, “That wasn’t your friend Bobby who called, Sam. He didn’t tell you about the seal.”

“That was you?” Castiel nodded and Sam clenched his fists as he struggled to maintain some control over the part of him that wanted to scream, “If you want our help, why the hell didn’t you just ask?”

“Because whatever I ask,” Castiel muttered, almost annoyed, “you seem to do the exact opposite.”

Sam pursed his lips, containing himself. He had to admit that he wasn’t exactly compliant (at all) with the angels. He said, “It’s because… god, I mean, you’re angels. But everything you ask of me… it feels _bad_.”

Castiel countered, “Drinking demon blood doesn’t?” Sam stared at his feet, feeling flush with shame and anger. Castiel continued, “I know you have your reasons for doing it. The same way we have ours. And you’ve been called on to help carry out God’s will.”

The rage in Sam began to die down, quickly becoming replaced by weariness as he asked, “Why? Why me? I mean, I should…” He clenched his jaw and kept watching the ground, unable to find the words to describe how he felt.

 “Why?” Castiel said earnestly, “Because you’re different, Sam.”

There was a shift in the air and when Sam looked up, the angel was gone. Then he heard from inside, “Sam? Sam!”

“Over here,” called Sam. Ruby came out and seemed visibly relieved to see Sam alive with her own eyes. Sam asked, “Are you okay? Alastair, he said…”

“Alastair’s a liar. I’m fine. Where is he?” Ruby’s eyes widened, “Did you-“

Sam shook his head and muttered, “No. The angels took him.”

“What?” Ruby scoffed, “Those birdbrains think they can-“

“Ruby,” Sam said, so softly she almost didn’t hear it.

Ruby asked, concerned, “What is it, Sam?”

Sam said, just as softly as before, “I was awake for part of it, before I could get a clear shot.”

“Sam, what-“

“’You’ve got everything where you want it,’” quoted Sam plainly. “’Daddy’ll bring him back when the time comes.’” He didn’t even sound angry, just tired, when he asked, “Ruby, what’s going on?”

Ruby said carefully, “Sam, I… I can explain.”

“I’m listening.”

Ruby searched her mind for some way to say it that wouldn’t scare Sam off, “Can’t we talk about this at the motel? I think you need to-“

“Ruby,” Sam warned, “I can’t… do this anymore. Not unless I know what it is I’m walking into.”

Ruby bit her lip before proceeding, “Well, you already know breaking the seals will bust out Lucifer.”

Sam nodded, “Yeah, and Lillith is trying to break them all.”

“Not the last one.”

“What?”

“She doesn’t want to break the last seal, Sam. She wants you to do it.”

Sam eyed her incredulously, “Why would I do that?”

Ruby let out a big shaky breath as she admitted, “She wants you to break it. Because _she_ is the final seal.”

 


End file.
